Current Run : 2 Blueberry OG Clones 2 Anesthesia Clones Well good evening fellow nug hunters! This is my first attempt at a journal about my trials and tribulations of growing herb. There seems to be a great deal of readily information from the people in these forums, so I wanted to take full advantage of the other growers here in case I run into trouble, and to give me pointers along the way. My Background Although I have grown before, it was back in '94-95 up in the Emerald Triangle. We ran some soil & a flood tray under some hps/mh lights. You gotta remember though (if you're old enough), this was before the internet, before youtube, before instant access to information like today. There might have been a couple bulletin board systems, but very limited at that, and still very illegal, so a lot of what we did was trial and error. Loads of mistakes, no benchmarks to compare against, I'm surprised we got any decent smoke out of it at all to tell you the truth. Tired of paying so much for decent smoke, I finally decided enough is enough, and I should grow my own again. So here I am getting started on this crazy endeavor about growing a plant I love so much. Environment - House, spare bedroom, concrete floors, Central HVAC set @ 70 degrees Tent - 48x48x80 iPower Lights - 4 x Mars Hydro 300w LED panels (140-150w average actual draw) for 550-600 true watts. These are the cheap ones, the $65 panels on amazon. I did a lot of research and review/forum reading, prolly until I was blue in the face, with mixed results, but I've seen decent grows with this panel. I am not a pro, in fact I'm pretty much a noob again, so budget conscious is always on my mind. Granted I haven't seen anyone run 4 of them in a 4x4 tent, although I'm sure they are out there, This was what I think is the best bang for my buck. I was concerned about footprint running a 4 bucket system, and these lights cover a 2x2 area perfect, so with 4, I should have a nice even canopy. Exhaust - VivoSun 6" 440cfm Inline Fan w/Carbon Scrubber (scrubber not connected during veg) - vented through ceiling into attic up to the ridge vents, capped with a damper. Intake/Secondary Exhaust - VivoSun 4" 200cfm Inline Fan w/Carbon Scrubber. I originally but this fan/scrubber combo first thinking 200cfm would be fine for this size tent, but running 4 led panels I can only keep the tent air temp down to 77 degrees running full power. So I decided to buck up for the 440cfm 6" combo for exhaust, and use this one for fresh air intake during veg, and as a secondary exhaust during flower to help control humidity since I already have a 4" pipe running through the ceiling up to the ridge vents next to the 6" pipe. If I end up not needing it at all, I've got a head start for another smaller tent setup. Air Circulation - 2 - 6" clip fans blowing over the top of the led panels, and 1 16" oscillating fan blowing between the lights and the plants. RDWC System - DIY Build - a combination of a few different systems that I've seen with some tweaks here and there. 20 Gallon recirculating using (4) 4 gallon square tubs with 6" net pots filled with hydroton, utilizing an under current system connected together with 2" PVC pipe and uni-seals, gravity fed from 2" PVC connected to a 12 gallon trash I am using as the control reservoir that sits outside of the tent. Tubs wrapped in Reflectix. A flow controlled 396GPH inline water pump pulls from the bottom of one of the tubs using 3/4" black vinyl tubing and feeds a 1/10HP chiller, which then dumps back into the control reservoir. I have a manifold I built attached to a small submersible pump in the control res with lines to top feed the net pots about an inch under the rockwool cubes on a timer, running twice a day for 15 minutes a session, but it is currently turned off, as I don't want to drown the seedlings. Once roots have made their way through the bottom of the net pots, the top feeder gets shut off for good. Aeration - Commercial 950GPH 32w 6-port air compressor with (1) 4" round air stone in each tub, and 2 in the control res. Water Chiller - Active Aqua 1/10HP Nutrients - Advanced Nutrients - PH Perfect Micro-Grow-Bloom Supplements/Additives - AN B-52, AN Voodoo Juice, AN Big Bud, AN Overdrive. HydroGuard, and CaliMagic are on the shelf too. Water - I am using tap water at the moment. It tests out usually at around 90ppm, so I should be ok. If I have to invest in an RO system I will, but that might include a num-chuk attack from my wife (I've spent a small chunk of change already). Strains - Blueberry OG Feminized- Seed Supreme Seedbank - Indy Dom - germinated 1 1/2 weeks old Anesthesia Feminized- Seed Supreme SeedBank - Indy Dom - germinated 1 1/2 weeks old Jedi Knight - A cross my buddy in SoCal made from Skywalker x GDP (older seeds, I didnt store them right - terrible germination rate - less than 5%) - 2 beans cracked - 1 week old, don't look that great. Worthy - another cross from Headband x GDP (older seeds, I didnt store them right - terrible germination rate - less than 5%) I have one bean that cracked, tap root not yet 1/2", still in paper towel. Bagseed - I have a few from the good bags that came through, 80% germinated. I'm just messing around with them for now. 3 week olds, I've Fim'd one on node 4, and topped another from node 5 to node 3 prepping a manifold , with 2 more just spitting out node 4. They sit in a 17g dwc tub under a 300w led in a closet for now. Anyways, I know that is a lot to ingest, but I just wanted to bring the journal up to speed, and explain what gear I'm using and what my plan is. I'll try to do weekly updates on progress. Here is a couple crappy cell phone pics to start. I will take better Images of the detail soon. Lights & Fans/Scrubber 4 tub diy rdwc Tried to get the whole view... Gravity feed from control reservoir.
Pic Update 10-25-17: I pulled out my good camera for some decent pics during the 6 hour lights off period. Blueberry OG Fem - 11 days old Bagseed that sits in a 6 plug 17g tub under a 300w panel in the veg closet. Node 5 is showing with node 6 barely starting to peek out. Another bagseed in the veg closet I attempted a FIM on. I guess we'll find out if I missed or not soon.
I put a meter on the 4 Mars Hydro 300watt LED panels today. True pull with 4 panels was 475 Watts. ~O 48x48x80 | 4x300w MarsHydro LED | 22G - 4 Bucket w/res under current RDWC
Got the scrog built yesterday. Now it’s just a waiting game to get it filled in. Did a little lst on the bagseed plant. I topped it about 10 days ago. It seems to have recovered well and is now starting to bush out. The blueberry og is growing in really nice and thick, with rootmass growing everyday. The anesthesia stalled out for a bit, but has now started to rebound along with the Jedi, which I FIM’d at node 5 this evening. The 3 veg closet plants have been FIM’d and/or topped, and are now going through some lst. LED lights throw off the color, but here are some pics. Blueberry OG Anesthesia Jedi Bagseed Veg closet plants Here are my pumps, res, chiller and humidifier. That’s all for now. ~O 48x48x80 | 4x300w MarsHydro LED | 22G - 4 Bucket w/res under current RDWC
I did a flush and water change yesterday. Flushed with 15 gallons of ph’d water to knockdown any salts built up in the hydroton and root buckets. Added fresh nutes and sups at 40% strength to 22 gallons of 75/25 RO/tap water which started at 37 ppms and ended at 350 ppms. Ph’d down to 5.5 and let it creep to 6.3 before adjusting ph again. I seem to get a lot of ph creep right after a water change for the first couple days, then it stabilizes. I am guessing that is because I am only using 40% strength of the PH Perfect MGB tribe, but that’s just a guess. The blueberry og got her top pinched off yesterday, and it didn’t seem to phase her at all. Already showing new growth. I am a little worried about having 4 different strains in the same system. I feel like it is going to be difficult to keep them all happy. The bagseed and blueberry seem to enjoy a hotter nute mix while the Jedi and Anesthesia prefer a milder nute mix. They are all still young, under a month old, so maybe the other two will catch up soon and be able to handle a hotter mix. Blueberry OG Jedi Anesthesia Bagseed Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
This morning I noticed what appears to be a little nute burn starting on the tips of the blueberry og since the last res change and nute increase a couple days ago. I decided to pull 4 gallons out of the system and swap it with ph’d water. It brought the ppms down from 375 to 310, hopefully the girls appreciate a little dilution. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
How would you feel about adding 2 more of those lights? I got two in my 4x4 tent and I can’t decide if I should add two or four more. What do you think?
I am running 4 of them in my 4x4 tent. My hope is with their footprint I’ll get a nice even light across the top of the canopy. This is my first time with led. So I’m just keeping my fingers crossed! haha Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
I would think that would be ok if you can control the heat. 6 panels will throw some heat. 6 might be overkill though. At some point your just wasting electricity, but I don’t know where that threshold is. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Update: Water Change Day I flushed the system this morning by draining all but about 3 gallons with 20 gallons of ph 6.0 tap water @ 90ppms and let it run for about an hour while I cooked up a fresh batch of nutes. Nutrients used for 20 gallons of tap water @ ph 6.1. I mix nutes in a separate trash can and use a pump when I’m ready to fill the system. Hydroguard - 40ml AN Micro - 25ml AN Grow - 25ml AN Bloom - 25ml Voodoo Juice - 45ml CaliMagic - 35ml B-52 - 30ml That made 20 gallons @ 295ppms I drained the flush water except for about 3 gallons and pumped about 17 gallons of the new nutes into the system and let it mix with the 3 gallons left over which gave me: 275 ppms @ ph 6.4 which I dropped to 5.7. So after the water change: Ppms - 275 EC - .544 Ph - 5.7 Water temp - 66 Air temp - 77 RH - 50% I swapped the remaining 3 gallons in a different dwc. I thought I’d show some updated pics too: Res Blueberry OG Anesthesia Bagseed - I should be able to sex soon with preflowers, I’ll scope it tonight. Bagseed #2 transfer from closet to replace the Jedi. I pulled the Jedi today and put it in a dwc in the closet. She was having issues and just couldn’t keep up so I relocated her to see if I can nurse her into a mother a little better and maybe get some clones down to road and try again later. That’s all for now. Time for a puff or two! Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
I kicked up the ppms gradually last night and today to 400 to help address a magnesium and phosphorus lack I started noticing. I used 15ml of CaliMagic, and 10ml of AN Bloom to accomplish that. I also did some light pruning and lst on the Blueberry OG today. I’ll take a pic later. No luck on preflowers for the bagseed yet. I’ll look again tonight. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Update: Searching for signs of sex Looking again at the Bagseed #1 plant for signs of sex from the preflowers. I spotted what appears to be a round pod on an upper node that is closer to the lights, just next to the stipule. It's not quite spade shaped, but considering how lanky this plant looks between the nodes compared to the others, I've had a bad feeling about this one for a little bit now. Nothing quite showing on this node. Here is the suspect. A little Phosphorus deficient too. Hopefully I'm just paranoid and this little preflower will spit out some pistils soon.
Looking great in here! I tend to jump in head first when calling for males lol. I’ve learned to just relax and let it show you. I wouldn’t even try and guess at this point from the picture. Everything looks great, so keep it up! Happy growing Freaks LED DWC Perpetual Journey